All it took was one brave decision
by ohpond
Summary: What happens when two very different people end up in the same situation, when one person has always had the dream but it's slowly diminishing, and the other's is only just beginning to grow.


Author's note: Hi guys :) This is my first attempt at properly writing fanfic so I hope you enjoy it. I'm still not entirely sure how to work so if there are some little mistakes please excuse them. Also, excuse I'm British but as glee is american/the story is set in New York I've tried to use American words and not the British terms for things so if they're wrong or I missed one I apologise. Anyway, hope you enjoy.

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Chapter 1

_A dorm room can be a very lonely place_

The summer before actually starting NYADA had been the loneliest Rachel had ever been, and for a girl who didn't know what friendship was until Mr Schue formed New Directions , that was really saying something. Granted, Rachel could be a little dramatic, she knew that more than anyone, but whilst alone in her dorm, New York was becoming increasingly overwhelming.

The excitement and buzz of the city had made it bearable for a while but it all crumbled after the Skype call with Finn. Rachel thought it was going to cheer her up a little; remind her of home maybe. It didn't happen; it only served to make her more homesick than she previously was. It didn't help that everything between them felt unnatural now after the way he left her at the station. She understood why he did it, she really did, but that didn't help to ease the pain or the anger and hurt that he caused her on a day that should have been the best day of her life. Perhaps some of the loneliness she felt in New York was actually due to how lonely she felt without Finn, not just without him there physically, but he had been her best friend, confidant, _her fiancée_ for goodness sake and just knowing he wasthere for her was enough. Now she was just a tiny person in a massive city and as far as Finn was concerned, well Rachel had no idea where the army had taken him, she hadn't been allowed to know, she didn't want to.

Here she was, Rachel Berry, the star. Except here, in New York, she was a star among an ever-growing galaxy of brighter stars, and her light was fading. She knew it. She couldn't stand it. It was all she had ever been and she was losing it. Her biggest dreams were coming true but that's not how it felt. The drive, the passion, the ambition; they were merely memories of Lima, Ohio Rachel Berry; New York Rachel Berry was shaping up to be a very different person. It was almost as fear and anxiety had taken up all the room inside her where her dreams once could be found.

It was so difficult to make friends in a place like this, Rachel was from small town Lima, and the people here were all too similar to herself for her liking. Everyone wanted it as much as she did, she wasn't the loudest any more, she didn't even feel as if she were the most talented. Everything was so foreign: the place, the people, and these feelings.

It really didn't help that she was practically alone in the halls. It seemed as if only the overseas students came before the semester began and they appeared to just want to keep themselves to themselves. Occasionally Rachel would hear classical piano or jazz sax from somewhere or another, but this was no comfort to her. In fact, it just made her feel more and more out of place. Even singing wasn't helping. Rachel was maintaining the practice regimen that she had dedicated herself to since the age of five, but never found herself wanting to do extra as she had throughout both middle and high school.

Rachel's mind was beginning to wander even further. Thinking all of this at once was not making her feel any better about anything, although the fact that she had nothing to distract herself from her own thoughts was half the reason she was feeling so terrible. She desperately wanted to snap out of this mundane pattern that was beginning to emerge from day to day. Jesus, it was a Friday night and the ever confident Rachel Berry, who was now in New York of all places, was sitting alone on her bed in the dark, just thinking. This was the complete opposite of how she had promised herself she was going to be here, Rachel had wanted a new start away from the preconceptions of McKinley High. NYADA was where it was all going to happen and Rachel Barbara Berry was going to shine brighter than all the rest. How could it all be going so horribly wrong already?

A new day was what she needed; a good sleep, a fresh start and she would pick herself up. After all, it wasn't the first time she'd felt this down before and Rachel had always managed to get back on top. Before she knew it she was out of bed and getting her pyjamas on. She'd made a plan and she was going to stick with it - no matter what. Just as her determinism was beginning to kick, she heard a knock at the door.

"Crap," she thought, stood wearing nothing but a pair of shorts. Three weeks she'd been living here and not one person had knocked on her door or bothered to try to become friends. Then she remembered. Kurt was supposed to be coming to New York any day now to settle in before his internship at Vogue began. Another knock.

"Coming! One second," Rachel shouted, almost struggling to get the noise to come out of her mouth at all having not spoken to anyone for so long. She frantically looked round for her shirt. God, she wanted to see Kurt so badly, there were very few people she missed as much as him. He could be the wonderfully exuberant and fashionable solution to all her problems. Kurt was without a doubt her best friend and three weeks without being around him had been almost as hard as not seeing her Dads.

The search for her top was becoming ridiculous, all clothing was still in boxes and suitcases and the one she had been previously wearing was nowhere to be seen. Rachel needed to see Kurt, and fast. She grabbed her bra off the floor and quickly got back into it. It wasn't really an issue, he had been to countless sleepovers before and had seen much worse, she thought. It was hardly as if she had much to hide in the chest department!

Rachel jumped at the door, frantically throwing it open as fast as she could. Her recently absent smile began to build and take over her face in the way only Rachel's smile did.

"Oh my gosh, I've missed you so much you don't even-," Rachel's eyes glanced up. She froze.

"Oh, erm, ok, hi?" came a startled, yet bizarrely comfortingly familiar voice. The blonde's eyes shot up towards the sky, trying to avoid staring at the semi undressed brunette in front of her.

Rachel's mind raced around a thousand questions and jumped to even more conclusions. How, and more importantly why, was Quinn here?


End file.
